Proposal would ask fish houses to pitch in for immigrant bus

It's no secret that the Central American immigrant community walk the length of Herman Melville Boulevard as they travel to and from the fish houses where they work.

CURT BROWN

It's no secret that the Central American immigrant community walk the length of Herman Melville Boulevard as they travel to and from the fish houses where they work.

They walk because they find it difficult to obtain driver's licenses as they are undocumented.

Adrian Ventura said the Registry of Motor Vehicles could help if it would loosen requirements to obtain a driver's license. It is difficult for many to obtain a license because they do not have legal status, he said.

The largest immigrant advocacy group in the country, the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition (MIRA) has proposed legislation that would allow undocumented immigrants to obtain Massachusetts licenses.

Ventura said he made another proposal to Mayor Jon Mitchell in November that he thinks would help in New Bedford: Establish a bus route that would travel past the fish houses and keep immigrants safe.

The mayor counter-proposed that the immigrants should approach the fish companies about funding a shuttle van or a bus.

Mitchell said his thought was that a van or a bus might stop the attacks on the immigrants that occur as they are walking to work.

The city regularly maintains the lighting along MacArthur Boulevard in the hopes it will be a deterrent and police encourage Guatemalans to report violence when it happens, he said.

But because of language problems and immigration issues, crimes do go unreported, he said.

"Without good information, it is very hard to follow-up on some of these crimes," said Mitchell, a former federal prosecutor.

It also makes it hard to know the true extent of the violence, he said.

Erik B. Rousseau, the administrator of the Southeastern Regional Transit Authority, said he is aware of the need for the safe transport of Guatemalans and a route has been identified, but there is no money to fund it.

"We agree. We need more night service. We need more Sunday service, but it all comes down to funding," he said.

In 2009-10, he worked for a private bus company in Atlanta and it arranged bus transportation for workers that included a section through a dangerous part of that city, Rousseau said.

The transportation was completely funded by the private sector. "When employers make that effort, it's really phenomenal for everyone," he said.

Reaction from six fish houses was mixed with two companies saying they would be willing to discuss collectively funding bus transportation for their immigrant workers, but did not give a commitment. Others either did not return calls from The Standard-Times or flatly said they did not want anything to do with it.

"I would be willing to investigate or participate in that," said Walter Barrett, plant manager of SeaTrade. "I don't have any issues with that. Anything we can do to improve worker safety we're in favor of that."

He has heard of workers who have been attacked, but not on their way to work, he said.

There is no public transportation on the waterfront and public services in that area of New Bedford "is not great."

Michael Barry, president of Pier Fish, said he never gave the idea of transporting workers any thought and did not know how it would work.